Posts tagged cycling

This week looks to be one that gets us going in the right direction! So much to tell you….where do I start?

News on the block

Tokens that have been collected on behalf of ‘You Can Bike Too’ were given in to Cambridge Building Society offices (and Cambridge News offices) by supporters of our fantastic project…the aim being to benefit from ‘Cash For the Community,‘ an idea from the Cambridge News (in partnership with Cambridge Building Society) which was about cutting tokens that were printed daily and given in….however there were 25 projects nominated for a share of £10,000. In total 39,000 tokens were given in for all the projects! So we are going to be allocated £394 which I think is brilliant – but better than the cash is the publicity that this will bring to this project!

So today Aaran (Project Team Volunteer) and I are going to the presentation at the Cambridge News offices in Milton…woooh! A photo opportunity I feel! (Honestly I just can’t help using exclamation marks!)

Instructor Training to take place

Monday and Tuesday – Wheels for All (Cycling Projects) are going to deliver 2 days of instructor training to about 14 people – including myself, the manager of Milton Country Park, a parent, a carer or two, a couple of professionals and 3 or 4 young men with learning difficulties…how cool and inclusive is that?! Thanks to South Cambs Council for paying for this and thanks to Milton Country Park for hosting this training.

Wheels For All Training gives individuals, carers and support staff the confidence to work with adapted cycles for their clients or family member so that all can enjoy the benefits of cycling in a sociable environment.

Once we have these volunteers trained up we edge closer to the day when we see All Ability Cycling take place in Cambridge!

Funding

On Wednesday one of the project team and myself are going to Guildhall in Cambridge to make a presentation to Cycling and Pedestrian Members Steering group ….they are going to decide if the project can have some funding for the next year, with an emphasis of making sure that the project team of people with disabilities are kept in the picture as this project develops. This is an essential requirement…the idea for All Ability cycling project  came from a young man with disabilities and we need to make sure that in our effort to get this off the ground that these amazing volunteers are at the front of this project!

And on the other days I’m off to my ‘day’ job!….my other life! Till next time…

Editor: Update to this post – here’s a photo of Aaran and Ruth collecting their Cambridge Evening News cheque!

Well nearly time to count them up! I had 400 given to me by the social work student Karen!!! Aaran bought his along to project meeting….there has been some real token collecting going on! I had to resist the challenge on Sunday night of rummaging around in people’s blue bins!! (The ones where there may have been Cambridge News with tokens still intact!) I’m also getting lots of messages ….people telling me from far and wide how they are collecting…I feel as though everyone deserves a big pat on the back…..or a chocolate!  So thanks guys!!! I’m sure we should get a little bit of the £10,000?

I seem to have lost a blog in between this one and the last one but no matter! So wheels are turning….The Cambridge News have nominated You Can Bike Too as one of the projects (out of 25 in total) for Cash in the Community! Actually that means that we need people to cut out the tokens that are going to be printed in the paper every day for about one month, then label them “You Can Hub” and take them to the nearest Cambridge Building Society branch. They count up the tokens and we should get a share of £10,000. That would be a BIG help so if you know anybody that reads this paper ask them to cut out the tokens!

The ‘Professionals’ (I always hear that theme music when I say that!) had a meet up at Milton Country Park to talk about how they can support the You Can Bike Too project to move forwards. We had a great turn out – people from local organisations: Councils; Sports Development teams; Sustrans; Cambridge Cycling Campaign; Outspoken bike couriers and trainers; Milton Country Park (which provided the venue for us!); Ability Plus. We also had a representative from national organisation Wheels For All, which has cycling projects all over the country. It was great to get them in all same room talking All Ability Cycling! There were lots of creative ideas and everyone had suggestions of how they could help, from publicising upcoming events to printing flyers, providing lunches, and suggesting contacts. To borrow language from the Do Lectures, all the “little do” actions help the wheels keep turning! Now it’s time for a “big do” from us!

The meeting definitely highlighted the need to think about how we can roll the project out on a practical week to week basis. Do we have membership? I like that idea! Individual membership and possibly corporate membership! Get those Big Boys in!! The local business community could have such fun with these bikes…we’d have the trained up volunteers to support them to have a go.

The Project Team also visited London on Saturday – a benchmarking trip to Victoria Park to see and try All Ability Bikes at Bikeworks in London …and thankfully we weren’t snowed off! Cambridge News met us at the Railway Station to take photographs of the Project Team for a piece in the paper in a couple of weeks – stardom is coming I feel! More details of this visit and pictures to follow!

What a week! Never mind about Blue Monday …We have Cheerful Tuesday – news that a grant applied for last summer was successful! £4000 winging it’s way to buy an adaptive bike! Ker-ching!

Not to mention Wonderful Wednesday! Great Press – a Cambridge News article for all to see! Onwards and upwards! Now we just need to secure £15,000 to run the project for the rest of the year!

Lots of interest in You Can Bike Too at Milton Country Park

Volunteers from You Can Bike Too were at the Milton Country Park Park Life event on 24th June. Ruth and Angela went along to tell people a bit more about You Can Bike Too. Lots of people wanted to know more and get involved, and Angela and Ruth also got to make some new links with South Cambridgeshire District Council. All fantastic steps in getting this fabulous project off the ground!

You Can Bike Too has a group of people with disabilities who are interested in being the project team – completing all the research and work necessary to develop and deliver the project.  The group will develop communication skills, confidence and the ability to work in a team.

If you are interested in getting involved in You Can Bike Too, get in touch! You might be someone who is keen to have a go at cycling, and you might be interested in supporting us in other ways! You can

suppo

Angela and Ruth with all the info on You Can Bike Too!

rt us by:

– offering to volunteer

– fundraising on our behalf

– donating money

You can get in touch through our contact us page.

You can also follow us on Twitter to keep updated with our progress!

The first meeting of people interested in becoming the You Can Bike Too project team!

From today you can support one of our projects by visiting our local Waitrose store in Trumpington, Cambridge. You Can Bike Too is very pleased to be selected for the Waitrose Community Matters Scheme – which means that you can use the green token you get when you shop to vote for our project. At the end of the month, we’ll get a share of £1000 based on how many tokens we have. So what are you waiting for! We’re particularly pleased to be benefitting from this scheme because this store also offers cycle trailers for customers to loan for free to get their shopping home – in the true spirit of You Can Bike Too!